Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #105794

Stephanie Vecchiarelli, EDD, MPH, CHES, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, P.O. Box 951772, Room 36-078, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, 310-267-2946, stephv@ucla.edu

Over the years, schools have employed numerous strategies to address the increasing number of overweight students and poor dietary habits of their students. Most recently, there has been a proliferation of district and school level nutrition policies aimed at altering the school food environment to improve the dietary behaviors of students. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second largest school district in the country, developed and implemented two of the most comprehensive nutrition policies in all of its schools in 2004. The Healthy Beverage Resolution defines what types of beverages that may be sold on school campuses went into affect January 1, 2004. The Obesity Prevention Motion included definitions for the types of foods available to students throughout the school day and went into affect July 1, 2004. Through interviews, questionnaires and observations with both District and school level staff, this study documented the development, implementation, and impact of the LAUSD “soda ban” and “junk food” ban.

Twelfth grade students and staff in year round high schools were selected to complete a questionnaire measuring their knowledge of and attitudes toward the policies as well as the impact of these policies on student. This presentation will present results from these questionnaires. Additionally, information from interviews with District and school staff regarding the development and implementation of the nutrition policies will be presented to provide context for the results.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to

• Define the impact of nutrition policies on student dietary behaviors.
• Identify student and staff knowledge of district/school nutrition policies.
• Describe student and staff attitudes towards district/school nutrition policies.

Keywords: Policy/Policy Development, Nutrition

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.